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A gunman killed eight worshippers in a Yemeni mosque Wednesday before being overpowered and detained by security forces, officials said.

Two people were also wounded in the shooting incident, which took place in the province of Lahij, 300 kilometres south of the capital, the officials said, according to AFP.

The gunman burst into the Koranic school of the mosque in the village of Yahar, before mowing down worshippers with machine-gun fire.

Security officials said they remained unclear about the motives of the attack, although preliminary investigations suggested the gunman had suffered psychological problems since being stripped of his position as an army colonel after Yemen's 1994 civil war.